Snook ISD employee fired after video shows him pushing child

Video shows Snook ISD teacher pushing child

Ashley Goudeau, KVUE11:23 PM. CDT October 15, 2016

The video, which was shared by Stacy LeeAnn Gutierrez and has been viewed nearly 160,000 times on Facebook as of Friday morning, shows the teacher forcibly picking up and placing the student in a bean bag chair in a classroom at the school. (Photo: Screengrab of Facebook post)

SNOOK, TEXAS - A behavior specialist with Snook Independent School District was fired after a video was released showing him pushing a student.

The Burleson County Sheriff's Office launched an investigation after the video went viral.

The video shows the Snook ISD employee pushing a pre-Kindergarten student into a bean bag, forcing him up and doing it again all while yelling and seemingly mocking the child.

"Tell me no. When I tell you to do something, you do it, boy," the man exclaimed in the video while pushing the child's head.

Snook ISD released a statement Saturday morning announcing that the employee, who they identified as Troy Vann, was no longer working for the school district. They added that there were no indications of concern regarding his conduct since he started working for the district in August 2015.

Snook ISD released a statement Saturday morning announcing that the employee, who they identified as Troy Vann, was no longer working for the school district. They added that there were no indications of concern regarding his conduct since he started working for the district in August 2015.

"I was in disbelief because I had a phone call from the school saying it was a video, but it was nothing to worry about, they were just trying to get him to sit down," said Jessica Boson, the young child's mother. "And then when I seen the actual video, tears flooded my eyes."

Boson added that Vann called her suggested her parenting was the blame and added the family needed counseling for the child's behavior.

The video lasts for 29 seconds. It was recorded by eighth grader Exavier Williams who was also in the "cool down" room Thursday morning.

"The little kid didn't want to sit in the bean bag so the guy was getting mad and he just put him in the bean bag," said Williams. He added the reason he decided to record was because of "how mad the guy was getting."

Williams said the exchange had gone on for a few minutes before he was able to get his cell phone's camera to work. When he finally was able to get his camera working, he said he pretended to text, but was actually recording. He wanted to step in, so he tried to get Vann's attention.

"I had asked him could I call my mom and he said 'yeah' and I was in the hallway and my mom heard him screaming from the hallway," Williams recalled.

His mom Stacy Williams urged him to go get an adult and she called his principal, Kenzie Bond, to tell her what was happening.

"Exzavier calls me a little bit later and says, that she erased the video," Stacy Williams said.

Snook ISD superintendent Brenda Krchnak told KVUE News Bond forwarded the video to herself then sent it to Krchnak. She also admitted Bond erased the video, saying that was done to protect the young student's identity.

Williams said Bond did not ask him if she could send the video to herself or get his permission to erase it.

What school officials didn't know was Exzavier had already sent a copy of the video to another phone. The 14-year old said he doesn't trust the school officials and wanted a backup copy.

When he got home from school, his mother posted it on her Facebook page, hoping to find the child's mother. Stacy Williams said the actions were appalling, but, as the mother of a bi-racial Black son, she was especially upset that Vann referred to the child as "boy".

"It's not the first time," Williams said holding back tears. "They use that word 'boy'. You know, and if they want to call it because he's young, that's not right. We have names for our children, you give them a name and you call them by their name, you don't call them boy."

Williams and Boson have been in touch with each other and both plan to remove their sons from the district.

Snook Independent School District leaders took to their Facebook page several hours after the video was published Thursday, to respond, saying the "employee was attempting to exert discipline and control over a young student." The district also said the "instructor was immediately removed from duty pending a full review and investigation of the matter." Read the full Facebook post from Snook ISD:

By Friday afternoon, Williams' Facebook video had been viewed more than 237,000 times. The spokesperson for the Burleson County Sheriff's Office tells KVUE News members of the department were among the viewers. She said the district did not contact them about the incident, but they launched an investigation after seeing the video.

Krchnak told KVUE News the man in the video has worked in the district for two years. She added being a behavior specialist does not require a certification, but he does have a teacher's certification.

Snook ISD is investigating the incident, reviewing both Williams' video and video from inside the school that captured the incident. KVUE News asked if there is a camera in the classroom, but Krchnak declined to answer. We also requested the video from the school but were denied.